On Tuesday 11 March 25 I will be giving a 2-hour seminar on the Fundamentals of Contracts for Lawyers and Legal Professionals at the Madrid Bar Association. This will be an initial introduction, and the topics we’ll discuss include:

• Basic Contract Terminology
• Step-by-step Through the Life of a Contract (basic contract theory)
• Contract Terminology Pitfalls (“trampas”)
• Beware! Most contracts are NOT written in plain English (examples of what to look out for)
• Structure of English-language Contracts
• 27 (!) Standard Contract Clauses

The session is sponsored by Fernando Cuñado (Traducción Jurídica) and will be presented by Mercedes Carmona Mariscal, Co-chair of the ICAM’s Corporate Law section.

Time: 16:00-18:00

Place: Ilustre Colegio de la Abogacía de Madrid

c/Serrano 9 (Madrid)

You can sign up to attend in person or remotely here

And for all attendees, here is a “handout” of the basic contract vocabulary that we will be discussing:

Basic Contract Terminology (with possible Spanish translations)

To start you off compiling your own personal bilingual glossary of contract terminology, here are some of the terms and expressions that we will be discussing during our survey of the Fundamentals of Contracts. They are listed in thematic rather than alphabetical order, because it’s easier to learn them that way.

But please note: 1) when rendering common law concepts into Spanish there are very few true “equivalents;” 2) a single term often has more than one possible translation, and 3) you may sometimes have to find a “definitional translation” when there is no similar concept in Spanish law.

to make an offer (hacer una oferta)

offeror (oferente)

offeree (destinatario de la oferta)

to accept/reject an offer (aceptar/rechazar una oferta)

to revoke an offer (revocar una oferta)

to make a counteroffer (hacer una contraoferta)

contract; agreement (contrato)

to draft a contract; to draw up a contract (redactar un contrato)

(a first/rough/final) draft of a contract (borrador de un contrato)

to negotiate a contract (negociar un contrato)

to bargain (negociar)

to make a deal (hacer un trato)

to reach an agreement (alcanzar un acuerdo)

to enter into a contract (celebrar un contrato)

“meeting of the minds” (“acuerdo de voluntades”)

contractual capacity; capacity to contract (capacidad contractual)

lack of capacity (falta de capacidad)

incompetence (incapacidad)

person adjudicated incompetent (incapaz; persona judicialmente incapacitada)

adjudication of incompetence (declaración judicial de incapacidad)

minor; infant; child (menor de edad)

minority; infancy (minoría de edad)

age of majority (mayoría de edad)

consideration (contraprestaciones que deben dar las partes para que un contrato sea válido)

“quid pro quo” (“algo por algo”)

precontract (precontrato)

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU); Letter of Intent (LoI) (“acuerdo de intenciones”)

Non-disclosure Agreement (acuerdo de confidencialidad)

contracting parties; parties to a contract (las partes contractuales; las partes del contrato)

to execute/sign a contract (firmar un contrato)

execution copy (ejemplar del contrato, listo para la firma)

the undersigned (el abajo firmante)

a valid contract (contrato válido)

a binding contract (to be binding on/upon the parties) (contrato que obliga a las partes; contrato de obligado cumplimiento)

to be bound by (an obligation, contract, etc.)

a void contract (contrato nulo)

a voidable contract (contrato anulable)

an enforceable contract (contrato exigible ante los tribunales)

effective date; date of entry into force (fecha de entrada en vigor)

the subject/subject-matter of a contract (el objeto del contrato)

the term/duration of a contract (plazo/duración del contrato)

the terms/conditions of a contract (condiciones generales del contrato)

to perform a contract (cumplir/ejecutar un contrato)

performance (cumplimiento contractual)

breach of contract (incumplimiento contractual)

material breach (incumplimiento grave)

contract default (incumplimiento contractual)

failure to perform a contract (incumplimiento contractual)

nonperformance of contract (incumplimiento contractual)

the breaching/defaulting party (la parte incumplidora)

the nonbreaching/ nondefaulting party (la parte cumplidora)

the injured/aggrieved party (la parte perjudicada)

to remedy/cure a breach of contract (subsanar el incumplimiento)

supervening impossibility of performance (imposibilidad sobrevenida de cumplimiento)

remedies for breach of contract (medidas resarcitorias del incumplimiento)

compensation for damages (indemnización de daños y perjuicios)

rescission and restitution (resolución y restitución)

“status quo ante”

specific performance (cumplimiento en natura, cumplimiento forzoso en forma específica, i.e., cumplimiento del contrato en sus exactos términos)

to amend a contract (modificar un contrato)

amendment (modificación)

to terminate a contract (resolver un contrato)

early termination (resolución anticipada)

notice of termination (preaviso de resolución)

to extend a contract (prorrogar un contrato)

to renew a contract (renovar un contrato)

automatic renewal (tácita reconducción)

assignment of contract (assignment of rights/delegation of duties) (cesión de la posición contractual)

assignor (cedente)

assignee (cesionario)

to interpret/construe a contract (interpretar un contrato)

interpretation/construction of contract (interpretación del contrato)

Speaking skills are perhaps the most difficult to acquire when learning a new language, and my Legal English students have often said that giving a formal presentation is the most difficult of all. I put together these Guidelines for their use, and I’m posting them here in case they may prove useful to others. At the end there is a “Rate Yourself” chart for assessing overall effectiveness.

Guidelines for Giving a Presentation in English

BEFORE YOUR PRESENTATION

• Define your audience
• Plan the content
• Use your own words
• Prepare handouts or other visual aids
• DO NOT USE GOOGLE TRANSLATE OR SIMILAR APPS to prepare your presentation (the results may be a disaster!)

DURING YOUR PRESENTATION

• Keep it simple
• Follow a clear structure
• Look directly at your audience
• Project your voice
• DO NOT READ

USEFUL LANGUAGE

1. Introducing your topic

• This morning/today…
• I’m going to talk about…
• I’d like to describe…
• The topic of my presentation is…
• This morning I’d like to give you an overview of…
• The theme of my talk is…
• My presentation this morning concerns…
• This afternoon I would like to talk to you about…
• I will be examining the following areas…
• This presentation focuses on the issue of…

2. Preliminary outline of your presentation

• First,/Second,/Then,/After that,/Finally,
• I’d like to… deal with…/move on to…/focus on…/consider…
• First, I’m going to look at …
• Second, I’ll move on to the issue of …
• Then I’ll examine …
• Lastly/Finally, I’ll look at / focus on …
• My presentation is divided into/I’ve divided my talk into… (three/four parts…)
• I have divided my talk into the following main areas: …
• I am going to divide my presentation into two main parts. First I’m going to describe… and then I’ll move on to look at …

3. Referring to questions

• Feel free to interrupt me if you have a question.
• If you don’t mind, we’ll leave questions until the end.

4. Introducing each section

• Let’s start with… (objectives)
• First we’re going to look at…
• I’d like to begin by…
• Now I’d like to focus on…
• I’d like to mention three points here…
• Now let’s move on to … (the next part)
• Let’s turn our attention to… (the question of…)
• This leads me to… (my third point…)
• Finally… (let’s consider…)

5. Making reference to other sections of the presentation

• As I mentioned earlier…
• I’ll say more about this later.
• I’ll come back to this point later.

6. Referring to common knowledge

• As you know…
• As you may recall/remember…

7. Referring to visual aids (handouts, powerpoints, etc.)

• This chart/outline/etc. shows/represents…
• If you look at this chart/table/etc….
• I’d like to draw your attention to this diagram/chart/table/etc….
• The data here shows that…

8. Summarizing main points and making conclusions

• To summarize, (there are five key points…)
• In conclusion,…
• To conclude my presentation, I would like to…

RATE YOURSELF

How was your presentation?

	Excellent	Good	OK	Poor
System -organization -knowledge of topic -introduction -ending -connections -relevance -length -level
Manner -audience contact -interest -assurance -confidence
Body Language -stance -posture -hands -eye contact -movement -facial expression
Visual aids -number -design -relevance -usefulness
Overall impression

While working on some ideas for webinars for ES-EN-ES translators, I came across a file containing labor law vocabulary previously used with my students of Legal English at the Universidad Carlos III. Since it has terms that translators may need when rendering labor-related terminology into English, I’m posting it here.

Note: There may be several other possible translations for each of these expressions, and it goes without saying that there are rarely any true equivalents when rendering English terms into Spanish.

employer (empleador)–employee (empleado)
employment contract/agreement (contrato laboral; contrato de empleo)
full-time/part-time contract (contrato a tiempo completo/contrato a tiempo parcial)
self-employment (trabajo autónomo; trabajo por cuenta propia)

conditions of employment (condiciones laborales)
to hire (US)/to engage (UK)/to employ an employee (contratar a un empleado)
probation; probationary period (período de prueba)
probationary employee (empleado en período de prueba)
status employee (empleado que ha superado el período de prueba)
full-time employee (empleado/trabajador a tiempo completo)
part-time employee (empleado/trabajador a tiempo parcial)
seniority (antigüedad)

discharge/dismissal (despido)
to discharge/to dismiss/ “to fire” (US)/ “to sack” (UK) an employee (despedir a un empleado)
wrongful dismissal (despido improcedente)
reinstatement (readmisión de un empleado despedido)

vocational/occupational training (formación profesional)
on-the-job training; onsite training (formación en el lugar de trabajo)
offsite training (formación fuera del lugar de trabajo)
promotion (ascenso; subida de categoría laboral)
demotion (descenso; bajada de categoría laboral)
job mobility (movilidad laboral)

labor/trade union (sindicato)
union dues (cuota sindical)
fair share fee (canon de negociación—cuota que pagan los no afiliados al sindicato beneficiados por un convenio colectivo)
collective bargaining (negociación colectiva)
collective bargaining agreement/contract; labor agreement/contract (convenio colectivo)
no strike-no lockout clause (cláusula de paz social)

labor/industrial (UK) dispute (conflicto laboral)
lockout (cierre patronal)
strike (huelga)
sit-in strike (ocupación de talleres; huelga de brazos caídos)
slowdown/go-slow strike (huelga de bajo rendimiento; ralentización de producción—my students from Colombia call this “operación tortuga”)
walk-out strike (abandono de talleres; abandono del lugar de trabajo)
work-to-rule strike (huelga de celo)
sympathy strike (huelga de solidaridad)
wildcat strike (huelga salvaje)
strikebreaker; “scab” (US); “blackleg” (UK) (“rompehuelgas,” “esquirol”—Spain)
picketing; picket (piquete)

wages (salario)
salary (sueldo)
minimum wage (salario mínimo)
cost-of-living index—COL (índice del coste de la vida—ICV)
consumer price index (índice de precios al consumo—IPC)
hours of work (horas laborables)
work week (semana laboral)
work schedule (horario de trabajo)
flextime (horario flexible)

shift work (trabajo a turnos; turnicidad)
to work shifts; to do shift work (trabajar a turnos)
work shift (turno de trabajo)
day shift/night shift (turno de día/turno de noche)
shift differential; differential pay (plus de turnicidad; suplemento salarial por trabajo a turnos)

overtime (horas extras; horas extraordinarias)
overtime pay (horas extras remuneradas/retribuidas; horas extraordinarias remuneradas/retribuidas)
compensatory time; comp time (compensación [de horas extras] por tiempo equivalente de descanso retribuido)

day off (día libre)
vacation (US)/holiday (UK) pay; paid vacations (US)/holidays (UK) (vacaciones remuneradas/retribuidas)
backpay (salarios atrasados/devengados y no pagados)

leave (permiso; baja; excedencia)
personal leave (permiso por asuntos personales)
sick leave (baja por enfermedad)
maternity leave/paternity leave; parenting leave (baja por maternidad/paternidad)
family leave (permiso por asuntos familiares)
bereavement leave (permiso por defunción)

retirement fund (US)/retirement scheme (UK) (fondo de pensiones)
retirement pension (pensión de jubilación)
unemployment benefits (prestación por desempleo)
workers’ compensation; workers’ comp (US); industrial injury compensation (UK) (prestación por accidente laboral)
occupational (US)/industrial (UK) accident (accidente laboral)
occupational (US)/industrial (UK) disease (enfermedad laboral/enfermedad profesional)
occupational safety and health; safety and health in the workplace (seguridad y salud laboral; seguridad y salud en el trabajo)
job safety (seguridad en el trabajo) vs. job security (estabilidad laboral)

A euphemism is a word or phrase that is used in place of another that is considered to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. It’s a way of softening the blow of a potentially uncomfortable topic. An example is saying “passed away” instead of “died,” or “between jobs” for “unemployed.”

As in all walks of life, euphemisms abound in legal language. Here are a few that I’ve come across although, ¡ojo! these may not be the only acceptable meanings of these terms. (And I’d never heard it before, but I like **this one best, although I don’t think it’s very common):

• capital punishment (death penalty)
• carnal knowledge (sexual intercourse)
• child born out of wedlock (illegitimate child—now more often referred to as a nonmarital child)
• collateral damage (civilian casualties)
• commission (bribe)
• contributions (taxes)
• corporate downsizing (layoff; firing of employees)
• correctional facility (prison)
• detention at His Majesty’s pleasure (indeterminate prison sentence)
• dissolution of marriage (divorce)
• enhanced interrogation (torture)
• ethnic cleansing (forced deportation; genocide)
• inebriated; intoxicated; impaired (drunk)
• intelligence gathering (spying)
• internment facility (prison)
• involuntary relocation (eviction)
• law enforcement officer (police)
• let go (fired)
• migrant pushback (collective expulsion; refoulement)
• morally flexible (corrupt)
• person of interest (suspect)
• protective custody (detention without charge)
• questioning by the police (interrogation)
• revenue enhancement (tax increase)
• substance abuser (drug addict)
• termination of pregnancy (abortion)
• **testimony without borders (lying under oath)
• untruth (lie)
• youthful indiscretion (juvenile misdemeanor)

These look-alike terms are sometimes confused, even by native English speakers. The first two are not necessarily legal terms, but do often appear in legal contexts. “Advice” (consejo) is always a noun: “He gave me some good advice.” “United States Supreme Court judges are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.” In contrast, “advise” is a verb meaning “to counsel;” “to give advice” (aconsejar): “The defendant was advised by his attorney not to testify during the trial.” As a verb “advise” can also mean “to inform” (avisar): “Please advise me when you are ready.”

In other respects, “advisement” denotes “careful consideration,” and judges often indicate that they will “take a matter under advisement” when they postpone making a decision until a later date. Thus, the expression “I will take this matter under advisement” implies that the matter in question will be given careful consideration and that a decision will be forthcoming.

Last week I finished teaching my 120-hour course in Legal English to the 41 students enrolled in the 2020-21 session of the Máster en Asesoría Jurídica de Empresas in the Law School of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. From September to April we studied and discussed together the terminology and basic concepts of Contracts, Corporate Law, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, Labor Law, Property Law and Tax Law. And we did it all while wearing our masks and maintaining our distance! (Well, with one tiny exception, when we quickly came together for a few seconds to take this photo!)

As I told them on the last day of class, I greatly admire their commitment and enthusiasm during what wasn’t the easiest of times.

Congratulations to you all, and thanks so much for your hard work throughout the year!

This seemingly cryptic expression “to elect to take against the will” denotes “a spouse’s statutory right to choose, upon the other spouse’s death, either the share under the deceased spouse’s will or the share of the estate as defined in the probate statute, which usually amounts to what a spouse would have received had he died intestate” (Black’s Law Dictionary). In this context “statutory share of the estate” refers to the porción sucesoria legal, while “share under the deceased spouse’s will” is the porción sucesoria dispuesta en el testamento. Thus, the surviving spouse’s “right to elect to take against the (other spouse’s) will” is el derecho del cónyuge supérstite de optar por la porción sucesoria legal en lugar de la dispuesta en el testamento del cónyuge difunto.

It should be noted that “take against the will” has sometimes been mistranslated as impugnar el testamento, which in English is more properly expressed as “to contest (or) to challenge the will.” When probate laws allow a surviving spouse to elect to take against the will, the spouse can choose to apply the provisions of the law rather than the provisions of his/her deceased spouse’s will. But in order to elect to take against a decedent’s will, the surviving spouse does not have to contest or challenge (impugnar) that will, but rather, depending on the jurisdiction, must usually appear before a probate judge to confirm that choice and to “file an election to take against the will form.” This implies filing a document certifying that the surviving spouse freely chooses to take against the will and fully understands the implications of doing so.

Today Fernando Cuñado published an interview on the Traducción Jurídica Youtube Channel in which we discussed legal translation, teaching Legal English and resources that nonlawyer translators can use to learn the law they need.

I’m providing above a link to the interview in case it may prove of interest to readers of this blog. (There are also many other useful videos on the Traducción Jurídica Youtube Channel for legal translators and learners of Legal English).

Of the seven units of Legal English* that I teach in the Máster en Asesoría Jurídica de Empresas at the Universidad Carlos III in Madrid, each year my students unanimously vote “Property Law” as the one they find the most difficult to understand. All of my students are young lawyers, but they perceive Anglo-American property law as being far removed from the system of derechos reales that they studied in their courses on Derecho Civil. And the concept of “life estate” is perhaps the aspect that they find most challenging. In the event it may be of interest to readers of this blog, I’m reviewing below some of the concepts that we recently discussed in class.

First, an overview:

Life Estate—A life estate is an estate limited in duration to either the life of the owner or the life of another person. It may be created by deed (in this context, an instrument by which a grantor grants to a grantee some type of interest in land), by will, or by operation of law. If A grants a life estate to B and retains the fee, he or she is said to have a reversionary interest (a right to the future enjoyment of property that one originally owned). When B dies, the land will revert (go back) to A. If A grants real property “to B and on B’s death to C,” B will own a life estate and C will own a remainder interest (an interest that takes effect after another estate has ended) in fee simple. Life tenants may likewise convey their interest to others. Thus, if B conveys his or her life estate to D, D will own a life estate for the duration of B’s life, after which the property will belong to C, the holder of the fee. When a person holds property for the duration of the life of another, this is known as an estate pur autre vie.

Here, the initial problem may reside in grasping the meanings of “estate,” “interest” and “fee” as used in property law contexts. Perhaps we can explore these concepts further in a future blog post, but for now it will suffice to say that here “estate” denotes the amount, degree, nature and quality of a person’s interest in land; “interest” refers to a legal or equitable claim or rights in property; and “fee” is a heritable interest in land, “fee simple” being absolute ownership akin to dominio pleno in Spanish property law.

But although the specific meanings of “estate,” “interest” and “fee” seemed clear to my students and they realized that (salvando las distancias) “life estate” might be considered somewhat similar to usufructo vitalicio, they still struggled to understand the three traditional life estates: reversionary interest; remainder interest and estate pur autre vie. Placing these in a practical example was the key. When we looked at this from the perspective of four friends, the relationships became clearer:

 Common Law Life Estates among Four Friends

(Paco, Javi, Manolo and Juan)

• Reversionary interest

Paco is a generous guy who decides to grant his friend Javi a life estate in his beach house, while retaining the fee (ownership) for himself. After Javi dies the property will revert (return to; go back to) Paco, the original owner. Paco has retained a reversionary interest in the beach house over which he granted Javi a life estate.

• Remainder interest

Paco grants a life estate in his beach house to Javi, stating that when Javi dies the property will go to another friend, Manolo. Javi has a life estate in the property while Manolo has a remainder interest, an interest that only takes effect after another estate has ended (and in legal terms Manolo is a remainderman).

• Estate pur autre vie

Paco granted Javi a life estate in his beach house, but Javi already has a bigger house on a nicer beach. So Javi decides to convey his life estate in Paco’s beach house to Juan. Juan will have a life estate for as long as Javi is alive. So, Juan enjoys a life estate, but only during Javi’s lifetime. Juan holds the beach property for the duration of another person’s (Javi’s) life (pur autre vie—for the duration of the life of another).

For another aspect of property law (easements–servidumbres) see here

For general comments on derechos reales, see here

For more on usufructo, see here and here

*Contracts; Corporate Law; Civil Procedure; Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure; Labor Law; Property Law and Tax Law